New Time Slot

For those of you who bother to listen to my dinky radio show, you should take note!  The live addition of the program will now begin at 10pm ET.  That is right, I am vacating the 8pm ET next week.  So if you tune in at 8pm after Jan 15th who knows what you’ll hear!

So for the love of Benji, please mark your calendars and please do not panic.   We will all get through this insane time together.  Soon we’ll all be used to and enjoy staying up a bit later.

Bottom Line:  The Radio Dan Show moves to 10pm ET starting Jan. 15th.

Fourteen Movies I’m Looking Forward To This Year

All over the internet I keep seeing people posting what movies they are most looking forward to in 2012.  Never one to turn down a simple idea for a blog post I figured I should weigh in on this important subject as well.

I didn’t make my list with a set number in mind.  I just picked out movies that I’m really looking forward to.  There are others not on this list that I’m eager to see too.  So don’t freak out that The Dark Knight Rises isn’t here.  And of course there are a number I’m not that interested in but plenty of you are.  So don’t freak out that The Hobbit isn’t here either.   Also it’s in order of release date, not how badly I want to see them.

1.  The Grey (Jan. 27) –  Alaskan oil pipeline worker Liam Neeson is in a plane crash and wakes up in the snowy wilderness.  However, before he gets to fully bond with the other male survivors over hot cocoa and a warm fire the group realizes they’re being hunted by a pack of wolves.   Everything I’ve read about this is that it’s fantastic.  Director Joe Carnahan gave us the excellent Narc and kinda fun Smokin’ Aces.  The trailer with the twitter quotes though, has to go.

2. Being Flynn (Mar. 2) – Once a upon a time Robert De Niro was my favorite actor  I looked forward to anything the guy was in.  Then the 2000′s came and suddenly there wasn’t that much to look forward to.  The guy has seemingly stopped trying.  But wait!  Here comes Being Flynn, starring De Niro as a guy who ditched his family years ago only to come across his son (Paul Dano) at a homeless shelter.  And if you look close in the trailer, the guy is actually acting here.  Can’t wait.

3.  The Hunger Games (Mar. 23) – Really I think I’m more excited about this because my daughter read these books and loves them.  She’s excited about a movie and it looks like that movie won’t suck.  So hey, I’M excited about it too!  Plus the idea of kids hunting kids sounds like something I’d be in favor of.

4.  The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Mar. 30) –  I cannot express how much I love the movies that come from Aardman Animation.  From Wallace and Gromit and Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas, they just all hit the right notes for me.  Funny and so damn clever.  Based on the trailer I saw this looks like it fit right along side those.   Basically it’s about a bunch of goofy pirates from what I can see.

5.  Bullet to the Head (Apr. 13) –  So there’s no trailer for this and it very well could be a piece of junk.  However the 80s retro movie pedigree is too much to resist.  Joel Silver produces!  Walter Hill directs!  Sylvester Stallone stars!  In 1986 this would have made $100 million and played all summer.  Now it’s a crap shoot.  I can recall a time though that any movie of Hill’s (48 HRS, Streets of Fire, The Warriors, Extreme Prejudice) was a must see for me.  I should mention I have no idea what this movie is about, but I’m sure SOMETHING will blow up.

6. Lockout (Apr. 20) –  Here’s a movie I didn’t know existed until a couple of weeks ago.  A sci-fi action movie that looks like it wants to be the new Escape from New York.  It stars Guy Pierce as a badass who has to get the president’s daughter out of some ridiculous future prison in space.  It looks bananas  (in a good way) and I love seeing a change of pace like this for Pierce, who’s one of my favorites.

7.  The Avengers (May 4) – You mean I get to see Captain America (Chris Evans) in another movie this year?  I’m so down.  Do I really need to say anything here?  I don’t think so.  I can tell you that this combo superhero movie (also bringing in Thor, Iron Man, and the Hulk in  case you hadn’t heard) is the one I’m going to try to avoid all trailers for.  So far so good.

8.  The Amazing Spider-Man (Jul. 4) –  Yeah, yeah I’m not crazy they rebooted the Spider-Man movies either.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love the character and his story.   Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker sort of looks like the Steve Ditko drawings of him.  That’s a good thing right?  I don’t care what you think, I’m in.

9.  Looper (Sep. 28) – Director Rian Johnson is two for two in my book (and in most other movie geek’s books as well).  I loved Brick and The Brothers Bloom.  This movie starring a time travelling Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis hasn’t had its plot spilled out all over the internet yet.  The less I know the better.  I like time travelling.  I love Gordon-Levitt and come on, Bruce Willis is still The Man.  The pedigree has me already buying a ticket.

 10.  Parker (Oct. 12) – I started reading the Parker books by Richard Stark last year.  Lean and mean stories about a no-nonsense thief, they were direct and to the point.  I got a kick out of them.  The character of Parker has been in movies before but always with another name.  Here what we have is an allegedly faithful adaptation of the character.   If they get it right this could be a nice surprise.  Jason Statham is Parker and Jennifer Lopez is also hanging around for some reason.  Plus they filmed some of it in Palm Beach County.  Neat!

11.  Skyfall (Nov. 9) – James Bond is back!  And it’s about time too.  Here Daniel Craig returns as Bond facing off against Javier Bardem and also Ralph Fiennes is lurking around somewhere.   I’m expecting this one to resemble closer to a classic Bond movie.

12.  Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Movie (Dec. 21) –  Commonly known as Kill Bin Laden, here is movie American’s can’t wait for.  The story of seal team six or whatever else is going on here.  Really we don’t know.  What we do know is that Bigelow, and her writing partner Mark Boal, were prepping a movie about the fruitless hunt for Bin Laden when the news broke that the guy had been killed.  Some rewriting later and now we have a happy ending.  Also noteworthy is that this is Bigelow’s first movie since winning the Oscar for the Hurt Locker in 2009.

13. Django Unchained (Dec. 25) – I’m not the biggest Quentin Tarantino fan in the world.  However the guy can most certainly get the job done.  And the story of a western about a former slave  turned bounty hunter (Jamie Foxx) out to save his wife from plantation owners sounds too good to miss out.  Plus a great cast to boot with Leo DiCaprio, Kurt Russell, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,  and James Remar (I’d go on but you get the idea) has got to be worth seeing.  Her’s hoping QT brings all his pulpy goodness to the old west.

14.  The Great Gatsby (Dec. 25) –  Just what you want for Christmas: TWO Leo DiCaprio movies!   Here he’s Jay Gatsby who has some great parties back in the 1920′s.  Toby Maguire is Nick Carroway, who lives next door and is amazed at how cool his neighbor is.  There’s also something about a romance with a married woman or something.  I think we all know how this one ends but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t see it.  Director Baz Luhrmann knows how to bring the visuals.  Considering the source material, this one should be great.

Quick Reaction – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

What surprised me most about the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) is that when you really get down to it, it’s just a good old fashioned whodunit.   I had no idea what the movie was about going in other than there was going to be a girl and somewhere on her body was a dragon tattoo.   Two years later here comes an American remake by one of our finest directors (David Fincher) and this time there were no surprises.

This isn’t to say that this version isn’t without merit or good or interesting.  However it does say that if you’ve already seen the Swedish version, you won’t find much new here.

The movie is still about a disgraced magazine publisher, Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig) who after losing a lawsuit for liable is hired by old, rich, retired CEO Henrik Vagner (Christopher Plummer) to figure out who killed his niece, Harriet, some 40 odd years ago.    Eventually he gets joined in the case by computer hacking, research specialist Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), the titular girl.

The movie keeps our two leads separate for a good while, going back and forth between Blomqvist’s investigation, taking place on a cold, snowy island the Vagner family lives on with the neat idea that the killer probably lives there, and Salander’s day to day existence as a “ward of the state.”  The movie zips at a brisk pace and gets zippier once the two leads come together.

There’s a lot of investigating going on here, something you don’t see in other movies.   The two study photos, interview witnesses, go over records, making something that sounds boring seem interesting. 

On the downside the movie is just as brutal as it’s Swedish counterpart.  I don’t mind brutuality as a rule but I personally never understand why a rape scene needs to go on as long it does it this movie.  At one point I think I would have made an argument for it, but now I don’t really see a point.  Yes, we see a girl, she’s getting raped, cut away. 

Craig is fine as Blomqvist, a cooler somewhat more assured version of the Swedish film.  Mara makes the most of getting a shot at playing the exceptionally smart, but emotionally absent Salander.  You wind up wishing there was more of her.   At least I did. 

If you haven’t already seen the Swedish version, then yes by all means check this movie out if you think you’re up to it.  The MPAA warns that it contains “Rated R for brutal violent content including rape and torture, strong sexuality, graphic nudity, and language.”  If you’re okay with that than this is the movie for you.

Grade: B+

One more note.  Not only is the movie itself disturbing in parts, it also features the most disturbing title sequences I’ve ever seen.

Get Stitcher, Win Money & Support Me!

For those of you who don’t know, Stitcher Radio is the best net radio app out there.  Available for iphone, ipad, android, and blackberry, you really have no excuse for not having this yet.  

With Stitcher you can get episodes of my show as soon as they post, plus listen to the live stream of TalkRadioX, AllDigitalRadio, and a number of others.

Now, don’t go rushing off to download it yet.  Hang on.  Here’s the deal.  You go to this link first, http://www.stitcher.com/RadioDan, and then download it and not only are you getting the awesomeness known as Stitcher, but you’re helping me out as well.   With each person who signs up that way, Stitcher will in turn give your pal Dan a (very) small chunk of change.   You need to use the promo code RADIODAN, so keep that in mind.  Once you do you are entered win $100.00 cash card!  Mint!

So you see, it will be like donating to the show but instead it costs you nothing AND you get one of the best apps out there AND you might get something back in return.  Win Win Win!

What Dan Saw in 2011

Embarrassing in spots, here is the list of movies I journeyed to a movie theater and spent good money to see in 2011.

The Dilemma

The Green Hornet

The Mechanic

I Am Number Four

Unknown

Drive Angry 3D

Hall Pass

Rango

Kill the Irishman

The Lincoln Lawyer

Win Win

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules

Sucker Punch

Source Code

Hanna

Soul Surfer

Water for Elephants

Fast Five

Something Borrowed

Thor

Bridesmaids

Priest

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Midnight in Paris

The Hangover Part II

X-Men: First Class

Super 8

Green Lantern

Bad Teacher

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Horrible Bosses

Zookeeper

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2

Captain America: The First Avenger

Friends with Benefits

Cowboys & Aliens

Attack the Block

The Help

30 Minutes or Less

Spy Kids 4D: All the Time in the World

The Debt

Contagion

Drive

Killer Elite

Moneyball

50/50

Real Steel

Footloose

Puss in Boots

J. Edgar

Arthur Christmas

Hugo

The Muppets

The Artist

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The Adventures of Tintin

Quick Reaction: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

After three Mission: Impossible movies, all with varying degrees of success, do we really want a fourth one?  As it turns out, yes we do!  In fact, based on this latest movie, I’m ready for the fifth Mission: Impossible.

However let’s discuss what’s in theaters now.  The latest in the series, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, starts out with our hero Ethan Hunt (Cruise) being broken out of a Moscow prison.  Hunt is broken out because the world needs saving from a crazy person bent on setting off nuclear bombs (Michael Nyquist) and I suppose no one else was available. 

So it’s up to Hunt and his team (Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, and a late arriving Jeremy Renner) to trot around the globe from the Kremlin in Moscow to Mumbai, chasing down our would be terrorist.   Oh, one catch.  The IMF (Impossible Missions Force, yeah really, that what it means)  has been disbanded so they’re on their own here.   Which kind of sounds like every other M:I movie.  Except this one does better than the previous three.  Much better.

For the first time in the M:I series we see Hunt working with his team (Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, and a late arriving Jeremy Renner) for the entirety of the movie.    This is a welcome change.  As is Hunt’s latest team itself.  We saw Pegg in a small role in the third Mission, here his role is expanded and it’s for the better.    Pegg is a funny guy and is perfect for the comic relief.   Patton is required female member and provides additional intensity (and a nice cat fight as well.  Those are always welcome).  Renner enters later in the film and is somewhat counterpart to Cruise.

The action set pieces are impressive and all work wonderfully.  From scaling the world’s tallest building in Dubai, to a foot chase in a sandstorm, and a fight in a ridiculously high-tech parking lot, there is no disappointment in the action department.

For some reason I’ve sorta ignored the IMAX format for movies.  When the IMAX theater in Fort Lauderdale opened in 1992 I was pretty excited about.  I saw a number of documentaries there but when regular features started converting to the format I was indifferent about it.   That is, until I saw Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

I had read that a section of this movie was filmed in the IMAX format and I knew that section was a sequence that takes place on the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.   The idea of seeing Tom Cruise dangling off a building on a five-story screen was too much to resist.   And the IMAX did not disappoint.  Ghost Protocol is a fun and exciting movie in any format, but if you can I would strongly suggest you seek out the giant IMAX screen to maximize the experience.

Grade: A+

Quick Reaction – Arthur Christmas

I should have done this weeks ago.  However, that is the danger with this blog.  Eons can pass without an update.  Eons or weeks.  I’m not sure which.

Anyway, the point here is the movie Arthur Christmas.   The ads that I’ve seen for this animated family feature have all made the movie look very cute and…well and not much else.  So, even though it was made from Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit!) and I was sure it was going to be good, I wasn’t all that excited about it. 

Of course I should know by now not to judge a book by its movie ads.   While I was right, for the most part, that Arthur Christmas is indeed good, what I did not anticipate was HOW good it would be.   It’s a classic underdog story.   The current Santa Claus (there have been many) is on the verge of retirement and his militaristic son Steve is primed to take over.   Steve has turned Christmas into a marvel of efficiency and technology.   Santa barely does anything on the big night, as his multitude of elves and a giant space ship that sorta resembles a sleigh do all the heavy lifting. 

Santa does have one other son, Arthur.  A goofy, awkward, afraid of everything but loving of all things Christmas kind of guy.  Arthur reads the letters the kids send in.  And isn’t allowed to do much else. 

Things pick up when after returning home from a successful Christmas night, Arthur realizes that one child did not get their gift.  When Santa and Steve determine it’s too late to do anything about it (it is 4:30am after all) Arthur, his grandfather (a former Santa) and one elf break out the old sleigh to get the job done.   It’s a Christmas road trip movie without the road people!

What follows is surprisingly funny, always entertaining, and proof that you can’t go wrong with Aardman Animations.  This Christmas weekend, if you are looking for something to help get you into the Christmas spirit this holiday weekend, look no further than Arthur Christmas.

Grade: A-

New Year’s Eve – Quick Reaction

Here we go again.

Thanks to so many people flocking the terrible Valentine’s Day, now director Garry Marshall is at it again.   With New Year’s Eve the formula is the same:  take a bunch of stars, put them in cliche sitcomesque stories, and make sure there’s plenty of overacting.

It’s almost hard to pinpoint the lamest story.  Zack Efron helping Michelle Pfeiffer finish a sort of bucket list (she isn’t dying) is pretty corny.   Robert De Niro IS dying and wants to live to see the New Year; wonder if he’ll make it.  Teenage Abagail Breslin wants to go see the ball drop but her square mom (Sarah Jessica Parker) won’t let her go.  Bigtime rock star Jenson (Jon Bon Jovi) has a big concert to play but longs to back with the one who got away (Katherine Heigl).  You get the idea.

Worst one of all is New Year’s hating Ashton Kutcher gets trapped in an elevator with Lea Michele who happens to be heading to Times Square.  It reminded me of the time Skippy and Mallory were trapped in the basement on Family Ties.  Or the time Dan, Roz, and a couple of sumo wrestlers were trapped in an elevator on Night Court.  Or when Slater and Jessie were trapped in a boiler room on Saved by the Bell.  Or…you get the idea.

However with all the Love Boat style shenanagins going on there some things to like.  Hilary Swank has perhaps the best storyline (putting on the ball drop only to have the lights not work).  Additionally there a few other twists that I was surprised by.

Overall it doesn’t work well.  It’s never a good sign when best part of your movie is the outtakes that play with the credits.  However there are a handful of laughs and it does manage to be better than Valentine’s Day.

That in itself should count for something.

Grade: C-

Hugo – Quick Reaction

This is the first live action movie in 3D that I am saying, ‘See the 3D version!’  That should let you know where this headed.

Hugo takes place in 1930s Paris (though everyone speaks English).  Asa Butterfield stars as Hugo, an orphan boy living in huge train station illegally, working at winding all the station clocks.

Hugo spends his days stealing food, winding clocks, avoiding the local inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), and working on his late father’s last project, which is fixing a turn of the century robot.

The plot kicks in when a toy maker working at the station (Ben Kingsley) seems to have a connection to Hugo’s robot.   Hugo then teams with Kingsley’s Goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) to find the connection.

Hugo is Martin Scorsese’s first family movie and his first 3D movie as well.  There is a big of a slow going in the second act but the rest of movie is pure magic.  If you are someone who loves movies you need to see this on the big screen.  And yes in 3D as well.

Grade: A-

The Muppets – Quick Reaction

Expectations suck.

Everyone likes the Muppets right?  In all honesty, if you don’t like the Muppets you’re probably a jerk.

The reviews for this Muppet movie have been fantastic.  Over at rottentomatoes.com it has a very impressive 98% fresh rating.  The ads have looked good.  I even like the posters I’ve seen for it.

So that’s why me ‘liking’ The Muppets instead of ‘loving’ it is disappointing.  Oh sure it’s a good time and the basic story of the Muppets reuniting is a cool idea.  But the songs are forgettable (except for Chris Cooper rapping, which is legit awesome!) and not everything works with leads Jason Segal, Amy Adams, and Walter, the new Muppet character introduced in the film.

It is fun and unfortunately my hopes were a bit too high.  The nostalgia effect kicks in and Kermit, Fozzie, and company come through more times than not.

Grade: B